


Soulmates (Clint/Multiple)

by ReginaNocis



Series: Obscure Love [11]
Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-24 00:43:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10730655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReginaNocis/pseuds/ReginaNocis
Summary: Clint goes through soulmates more than anyone else he's ever met. Eventually, he just gives up.





	Soulmates (Clint/Multiple)

  1. Bobbi Morse




 

Clint knew about the soulmate system. The words written on his arm in feminine print were fairly generic though, and he really didn't know if he'd ever get a chance to meet the girl who'd say them. After the explosion, he figured it didn't matter. He wouldn't ever hear the words anyways. Still, he worked hard to learn ASL and taught Phil and Natasha as soon as he could after meeting them. He got good at reading lips, and eventually SHIELD made him hearing aides that worked for most missions. He just couldn't wear them 24-7 because they hurt his ears pretty bad.

_Are you okay? Wouldn't that just be my luck._ Those words were floating through his head constantly. He was watching for them even though he knew he'd never get to hear them. Being deaf took away his chance of finding his soulmate, he was sure. He was, of course, wrong.

He was twenty-two when it finally happened. It was just a standard mission. In for information and out before they ever realized he'd been there. Nobody told him they'd sent someone in undercover months ago, and that she could still be there. That's how he met Bobbi Morse, when he said her words and she broke his nose. He couldn't really remember what he said, probably something witty and sarcastic knowing himself. She never showed him, not even when they got married months later.

“So, when do I get to see the words? You've seen yours a hundred times or more, since I show them every time I use my bow,” he asked multiple times. She'd just smile and shake her head, changing the subject.

“Shouldn't you be helping Coulson train that girl you brought in? What was her name?” she replied on the last night. He'd let it go and left to do what she'd said, disappointed yet again.

The next morning, there was a note on his pillow, and half of his apartment was bare.  _I'm sorry. The words weren't yours. I met him last night, and I'm leaving with him now. Don't look for me. I'll make sure our marriage disappears, so you can move on._

 

 

  1. Natasha Romanoff




 

After Bobbi left, her words eventually faded. New ones took their place fairly quickly. He recognized them almost immediately, and he chose not to say anything. He was sure his words weren't on her, or she would have acted at least a little differently, whether she did it on purpose or not.

“ _Are you going to kill me, or just stare at me?”_ That was the moment his life had changed forever. Why wouldn't that make her his soulmate? But apparently, somebody else had gotten there for her first. Somebody else was important to her. He could never be with her happily. She told him about the other man once, when they were waiting for a team to get them out of captivity on a mission gone bad.

“I met him in Russia, before you found me. He said my words, and I thought it was a test. I nearly killed him, until he proved that I was his soulmate, too. I had to keep him secret while I finished my training, sneaking out to see him. We were married shortly after my graduation from the Red Room. He stayed behind when I came here, to keep them off of my trail,” she'd said quietly.

“What's his name?” he'd asked, curious and trying not to sound like he was hurting.

“Alexae.”

The words only lasted for a few months, just long enough to hurt him, before fading and being replaced once again.

 

  1. Phil Coulson




 

Clint woke up in the hospital after a particularly brutal mission with no idea what was going on. He had some mild form of memory loss that couldn't quite qualify as amnesia, and a concussion. His soulmark was still there, and it was no longer hidden. After Natasha, he'd made sure his mark was covered no matter what. He knew that the object of the mark would definitely recognize it, as it was the turning point of his life.

“ _You don't have to be alone anymore. You can be one of the good guys. It's your choice.”_ That line worked for two reasons. The first being that homeless was not a good look on Clint. He'd been on the streets for almost a full year at that point, and he was just plain tired. The second being that nobody had ever let him make his own choices before. The fact that this man was letting him decide... that was the turning point for him. That was the day he'd joined SHIELD. 

“Why didn't you tell me about that?” Phil asked from his bedside. There was no way to pretend he didn't know what Phil was talking about.

“I've already been rejected twice, sir. I can't go through that again,” he replied quietly, hoping that maybe Phil wouldn't hear and would just leave it alone. He really did mean it, after all.

“I've had your words from the very beginning, Clint. Why would I reject you?” Phil asked, raising an eyebrow. And that... that just couldn't be true, could it? Clint tried to think back through his concussion (and ended up giving himself a bigger headache) but he couldn't remember ever seeing Phil's soulmark. He had no reason to lie, either.

“I haven't had yours for long. About three months, unless I've been in here for more than a day or two,” Clint told him seriously. “I had Bobbi's first, then Natasha's. They both faded with the rejections, of course. I decided to hide them after that, no matter whose words they were.”

“I wish you would have told me sooner. We could have been together from that first day,” Phil informed him, smiling slightly. It was the first real smile Clint had ever seen on his face. The smile was what finally made him realize that he could be happy.

He was stuck in the hospital for three weeks, but he ran in the middle of the first. Phil found him hiding out in his old apartment with his dog, and after much arguing, managed to move Clint into his own apartment. It was meant to be temporary, but when do plans ever go the way they're supposed to? After the first year in the apartment, they bought a house together.

“This is a farm, Clint. I thought we were going to get something small in Ohio?” Phil asked the first time he saw it.

“Yeah, we were. But then I realized that there was no way Fury was going to let us keep something like that. So I had Laura put this place in her name for us, and there's no way to trace it back to either of us easily, if at all. The only thing that would make Fury suspicious at all is that Laura and the kids are still living in Philadelphia for now with Barney. As long as we're not here when or if Fury investigates, we'll be fine. It's genius!” Clint explained, grinning.

“So the farm isn't actually ours?” Phil asked, confused.

“I paid for it. Her name is on it, but it's mine. It's ours. In a few years, when all of the fuss from Natasha has died down, we'll get it signed over to us. For now, this is basically our very own safehouse that nobody could ever trace back to us,” he replied. Phil nodded, processing.

“I suppose this could work. This means we do still have to keep the apartment, though,” Phil stated calmly, the hint of a smile forming on his face.

“Just with essentials. Everything else can be here, waiting for the days we can escape. Which means you occasionally have to escape from your paperwork. Think you can manage it?” Clint teased.

“For you, I will try,” Phil said quietly. Not much more was said after that. They moved furniture and their clothes into the house over the weekend, and spent as much time there as possible.

Phil was the reason he finally had aides that didn't hurt his ears. They were small enough that they were only visible if they were being looked for specifically. There was a special comms unit built in that was a direct line to Phil's when they went on missions together. And they were high enough quality that he could hear everything, just like he could before the accident. They made him feel normal again, and it just made him love Phil more.

When Phil was putting together the Avengers Initiative, Clint was helping him pick the people who would be involved. He and Natasha were never supposed to be included. They didn't have superhuman abilities or minds. They were just field agents, quite possibly the best in their fields. There were more than a few arguments, but Phil had already submitted it to Fury and gotten it approved before he told Clint. It was done.

He was told after the battle against the alien army that Phil never gave up looking for him. He never stopped believing that Clint would come back to him. Instead, Clint had killed him. The words never went away, and Clint always assumed that was his punishment, that was how fate was getting even with him. Sure, they faded, but they were there for the rest of his life. In a way, he was happy about that. He didn't want to forget a single moment of time spent with Phil Coulson.

 

  1. Kate Bishop




 

Years passed quickly for Clint. He went about his life as though it were over, taking unnecessary risks and not making connections with anyone outside of Natasha. He kept the team at a distance, barely spent any time at SHIELD, and disappeared altogether shortly after the fall. He moved into the farm for a while, kept everything running smoothly, and then moved Laura and the kids in after Barney died. He married her just so she could have his benefits, which were still active even though SHIELD was gone. When she was situated, he moved back into his old apartment building, finally buying it off of the assholes who had owned it when he'd lived there before.

He didn't notice when the new words formed. Why would he? Phil's words were still in the spot that all of his previous words had been. He had no reason to watch for new ones anywhere else, and he didn't think that he wanted a new soulmate anyways. All that brought him was heartache.

He met Kate Bishop when he saved her life one night. To be fair, she probably had the situation under control. But when he saw her being attacked in the park when he was walking home, he felt strangely protective. And after helping her, he just couldn't seem to get rid of her. He hadn't even spoken to her after kicking the assholes to the curb and she was already driving him crazy.

“So I don't know who you are, but thanks I guess. I had the situation under control, you know,” she was saying as he stopped in front of his building. He spun around to face her, glaring and impatient.

“Look, I'm glad I could help you, but I really just want to sleep now. Okay?” he snapped, one hand on the doorknob. Her mouth dropped open and she just stared at him, making him sigh. “Sorry. I know I'm being rude right now. I'm Clint, if that's what you're wanting to know.”

“You said my words,” she said quietly, pulling her sleeve up to show him. And there it was, what he'd just said, written in his terrible handwriting.

“How could you even read that to know?” he asked, frowning. “I mean, that's my writing and all, and definitely what I said, but... you don't want me. And I don't have your words.”

It never occurred to him, even as her face fell before she could clear off any expression, that he was doing to her what had been done to him so many times in the past. She just shook her head and gave him a look that made him think of Natasha before turning on her heel and walking away. It wasn't the last time he saw her by a long shot.

The next time the old owners of the building showed up to give him trouble (which happened a lot since he bought it off of them and then almost threw them off of the fire escape), she was there. He'd never admit it out loud, but she was probably the reason he managed to beat them that time. She'd somehow learned combat, and she was pretty good at it. Maybe she really could have protected herself before.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, confused. She just gave him a smile and wiggled her fingers in something resembling a wave before disappearing again. Two weeks later, she was knocking on his door with coffee and doughnuts, the same smile in place.

“We got off on the wrong foot. Maybe I'm not your soulmate, and that's fine, but you're definitely mine. So even if this is completely platonic, I still want it,” she told him as soon as he opened the door. Did he mention it was early?

“What are you doing here, kid? It's too early to be alive, much less cheerful. Too early for any kind of serious conversation,” he replied, blinking to stay focused. She'd woken him up, and he'd had a late night.

“That's why I brought coffee. I'm Kate, by the way. Kate Bishop. I don't think I told you before. And I know who you are, along with your basic information. Did you know that's all online now? Of course you do; you're a SHIELD agent. I'd heard of them before, my father was involved with them in some way,” she informed him. He decided to just nod like that made sense to him as he started chugging the hot coffee.

“Aw, coffee,” he groaned, wincing as it burned all the way down his throat.

“I didn't think I'd need to warn you it's hot,” Kate laughed, watching him. He tried to glare at her, but it was still too early, and he was now in pain.

“Was there a point to this?” he asked, gesturing for her to sit somewhere and make herself comfortable. It was pretty obvious that he wasn't going to be getting rid of her anytime soon.

“Yeah. It's no longer your choice on whether or not we get to know each other. I know all about you, so now I'm going to tell you about me,” she answered, biting into a doughnut. And that's just what she did.

It took him almost a month to find the words on his back. Okay, if he was completely honest, Kate had found them first. He got so used to her being there that changing in front of her was normal. He was just usually facing her when he did it. The first time he turned around to change, she abruptly stopped talking and moved forward to trace some pattern on his back.

“You _do_ have my words,” she said softly. Even with his high-tech aides, Clint almost didn't hear her. He turned to face her, frowning slightly.

“What are you talking about?” he asked, confused. “I never got a new mark. Phil's has been on my arm for seven years, and it's still there.”

“That's fine, but you've got a mark on your back, too. They're my words, the first ones I said to you. Do you remember them?” she asked. Strangely, he did.

“Something like ' I don't know who you are, but thanks I guess. I had the situation under control', right?” he answered automatically, without even thinking. Her grin was worth it.

“That's almost exact. Are you sure you didn't know about the mark? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you spent time memorizing it,” she teased. He just rolled his eyes and finished pulling on the shirt.

“You keep saying you know all about me- which is not true, by the way. It's my _job_ to remember things like that. Or... it used to be,” he reminded her. 

“Are you honestly going to tell me that the mark means nothing to you?” she asked him, incredulous.

He could tell her the truth. He could tell her that he'd been hurt so much in the past that he just couldn't do that again, and just hope that she understood. He could say that it meant  _everything_ to him, which was also the truth. No matter how many times he'd told himself that soulmarks don't matter, he knew that they really did. He was just like everyone else in that respect. 

He could also lie to her. He could tell her that he'd never care about her the way she wanted him to. That the age difference was just too much, and he only saw her as the kid she should be. But she'd always been pretty good at seeing through him, and she was twenty years old now. Sure, he was thirty-two. It was a very big age difference. But Kate had never acted her age. Mentally, he was pretty sure that she'd passed him a long time ago.

“Of course it means something. But... you know what's happened to me in the past. This is your first soulmark. Those are just your first set of words. So many things could happen that could change them. I shouldn't be anyone's first choice for a soulmate, and I'm not going to force you into this with me. And don't tell me it wouldn't be forcing you, because it kind of is, when you think about it. So yes, it matters, but not enough to do that to you,” he told her. 

“You are such an idiot, Barton,” she stated fondly, just before kissing him.

In the end, it happened much like it had with Phil. Clint managed to injure himself and escaped the hospital at the earliest time that he could. Kate found him hiding out in his apartment and basically moved herself in to help him get better. And then she just never left. Clint couldn't think of anything that could make this better. Sure, they had their fights, but so did every other couple in the world. They were both happy, and that's what mattered.

 


End file.
